Usury ( interest)

The guiding of them is not thy duty (O Muhammad), but Allah guideth whom He will. And whatsoever good thing ye spend, it is for yourselves, when ye spend not save in search of Allah's Countenance; and whatsoever good thing ye spend, it will be repaid to you in full, and ye will not be wronged.

(Alms are) for the poor who are straitened for the cause of Allah, who cannot travel in the land (for trade). The unthinking man accounteth them wealthy because of their restraint. Thou shalt know them by their mark: They do not beg of men with importunity. And whatsoever good thing ye spend, lo! Allah knoweth it.

Those who spend their wealth by night and day, by stealth and openly, verily their reward is with their Lord, and their shall no fear come upon them neither shall they grieve.

Those who swallow usury cannot rise up save as he ariseth whom the devil hath prostrated by (his) touch. That is because they say: Trade is just like usury; whereas Allah permitteth trading and forbiddeth usury. He unto whom an admonition from his Lord cometh, and (he) refraineth (in obedience thereto), he shall keep (the profits of) that which is past, and his affair (henceforth) is with Allah. As for him who returneth (to usury) - Such are rightful owners of the Fire. They will abide therein.

Allah hath blighted usury and made almsgiving fruitful. Allah loveth not the impious and guilty.

Lo! those who believe and do good works and establish worship and pay the poor-due, their reward is with their Lord and there shall no fear come upon them neither shall they grieve.

O ye who believe! Observe your duty to Allah, and give up what remaineth (due to you) from usury, if ye are (in truth) believers.

And if ye do not, then be warned of war (against you) from Allah and His messenger. And if ye repent, then ye have your principal (without interest). Wrong not, and ye shall not be wronged.

And if the debtor is in straitened circumstances, then (let there be) postponement to (the time of) ease; and that ye remit the debt as almsgiving would be better for you if ye did but know.

And guard yourselves against a day in which ye will be brought back to Allah. Then every soul will be paid in full that which it hath earned, and they will not be wronged.

Quran translation 2: 272 to 281- http://www.searchtruth.com

O ye who believe! Devour not usury, doubling and quadrupling (the sum lent). Observe your duty to Allah, that ye may be successful.

( سورة آل عمران , Aal-e-Imran, Chapter #3, Verse #130)

(Arabic, Transliteration, Urdu, Yusuf Ali, Shakir, Picthal, Mohsin Khan, French, Spanish, Indonesian, Malay, German, Bosnian,Russian)

(5) And of their taking usury when they were forbidden it, and of their devouring people's wealth by false pretences, We have prepared for those of them who disbelieve a painful doom.

( سورة النساء , An-Nisa, Chapter #4, Verse #161)

(Arabic, Transliteration, Urdu, Yusuf Ali, Shakir, Picthal, Mohsin Khan, French, Spanish, Indonesian, Malay, German, Bosnian,Russian)

(6) That which ye give in usury in order that it may increase on (other) people's property hath no increase with Allah; but that which ye give in charity, seeking Allah's Countenance, hath increase manifold.

( سورة الروم , Ar-Room, Chapter #30, Verse #39)

(Arabic, Transliteration, Urdu, Yusuf Ali, Shakir, Picthal, Mohsin Khan, French, Spanish, Indonesian, Malay, German, Bosnian,Russian)

And you see many of them hurrying towards sin and transgression, and eating illegal things [as bribes and Riba (usury)]. Evil indeed is that which they have been doing.

( سورة المائدة , Al-Maeda, Chapter #5, Verse #62)

(Arabic, Transliteration, Urdu, Yusuf Ali, Shakir, Picthal, Mohsin Khan, French, Spanish, Indonesian, Malay, German, Bosnian,Russian)

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Question:

Why mark up (usury) is prohibited in Islam? Does interest has an effect on the national economy?

Fatwa:

All perfect praise be to Allaah, The Lord of the Worlds. I testify that there is none worthy of worship except Allaah, and that Muhammad

is His slave and Messenger.

Imaam ar-Raazi and other Muslim scholars

state five reasons for forbidding Riba:

First, in Riba transactions a person takes the money of another without compensation because the person who pays a Dirham in return for two Dirhams in cash or after a while gets an increase in his money without giving something for it. It is known that money is the key to getting what we need. So, it has to be protected. The Prophet (Sallallaahu Alaihi wa Sallam) said:"The inviolability of the money of the person is similar to the inviolability of his blood." So, taking his money without compensation is forbidden.

Second, some scholars

state that Allaah forbade Riba as it discourages people from working. In fact, when the money owner could get profit and interest through Riba transactions without having to work, he becomes lazy and prefers Riba to investing in trade and industry and this in turn leads to joblessness among the people. Indeed, the public interest is in trade, crafts, factories and buildings.

Third, Riba causes severing relations among people as it takes the place of good loans which promote kindness and courtesy among people.

Fourth, most of the time it is the rich person who gives the Riba loan to the poor person, hence putting yet another burden on the latter. So, encouraging Riba means giving more power to the rich over the poor who, in addition, will have to pay more than what he took and this is contradictory to mercy and benevolence and Allaah is the most Merciful, the most Benevolent.

Fifth, Riba is forbidden by evidence from the texts of the Quran and Sunnah and we are not asked to know its wisdom. We are only required to approve that Riba is forbidden and act accordingly. In fact, a Muslim duty is to surrender to the Divine Instructions, to adhere to them and to do what is Halaal and to avoid what is Haraam, since Islam is based on total submission to Allaah, The Exalted, whether or not one knows the wisdom or reason behind the Divine Teachings.

Allaah says (what means): {It is not for a believer, man or woman, when Allaah and His Messenger have decreed a matter that they should have any option in their decision. And whoever disobeys Allaah and His Messenger, he has indeed strayed in a plain error.} [Quran 33:36]

The Prophet

said: “Allaah has cursed the one who consumes Riba (i.e. usury or interest), the one who gives it to others, the one who records it and the one who witnesses it.” [Muslim]

As regards the effect of Riba (interest) on the national economy, it has dangerous effects and bad consequences on the economy. This is one of the reasons why Allaah forbade it. We will limit ourselves here to two disastrous effects of Riba on the national economies both in the consumption level and the production one.

First, the Riba loans add to the exploitation of the poor and the needy as it results in more poverty, hence reducing their future earnings.

On the other hand, these Riba loans make the rich creditors richer and add to their future earnings. It is known that the poor and needy classes constitute a big majority of the society. And, in case the income of this category of people decreases then their demand on the consumed and invested commodities decreases as well. So, if we know that this demand is actually the magic key that turns the wheel of the national economy, as a whole, we realize how big the extent of the economical problem will be and how expensive it is for the individual as well as the society in general.

Second, in the field of investment and production, the Riba banking system allows the outflow of currencies to the wealthy people who are able to pay the loans while the poor ones bear the expenses as the prices of commodities rise up and this results also in national economy inflation which is disastrous for any economy.

Finally, know that Allaah never forbade anything except it has some harmful effects.

Allaah Knows best.

from :http://www.islamweb.net/emainpage/index.php?page=articles&id=147162